Field of the Invention.
The present invention relates to valve jet printers.
Description of Related Art
Valve jet printers are known in the art and are utilized for depositing ink patterns onto a substrate that is moving relative to said printer. A controller controls the deposition pattern of the ink on the substrate as a function of the relative movement between the substrate and the valve jet printer.
Inks utilized with valve jet printers are known to include one or more solvents that are reactive to one or more materials of the valve jet printers. Typical solvents utilized in ink dispensed by valve jet printers can include: MEK; N-propanol; Iso-propanol; Ethyl Acetate; Acetone; and Ethanol. These inks may also include other solvents.
Ink which includes one or more of these solvents can react with the material forming one or more components of a valve jet printer during dispensing of the ink. The component(s) will thus require service and/or replacement after some time of exposure to this solvent-containing ink in order to maintain the quality of deposition of the ink. Because time and expense is required to service and/or replace solvent-reactive components of a valve jet printer, there is a need to form said components to better withstand exposure to the solvents.